Quick Take on ... El Niño and His Sister La Niña
Sept. 13, 2006 – Scientists at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center reported today that El Niño conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific and are likely to continue into early 2007. Ocean temperatures increased remarkably in the equatorial Pacific during the last two weeks. "Currently, weak El Niño conditions exist, but there is a potential for this event to strengthen into a moderate event by winter," said Vernon Kousky, NOAA's lead El Niño forecaster. –from NOAA News Online. Retrieved from http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2699.htm.
El Niño and La Niña are disruptions of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific that have important consequences for weather around the globe. A major goal of science in the middle grades, according to the National Science Education Standards, is for students to develop an understanding of earth's oceans and the effect they have on climate. Investigating the global effects of La Niña and El Niño will help students understand this relationship.
Today's El Niño/La Niña Information
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/1997.html
Daily updates on the tropical Pacific as well as links to news articles and more.
El Niño—Southern Oscillation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_nino
This Wikipedia entry provides background information on El Niño and La Niña.
The Return of El Niño
http://www.vims.edu/bridge/index_archive1002.html
This site describes El Niño's effects on the oceans, climate, and ocean life. It includes a data activity in which students track some of the common climate changes caused by El Niño, paying close attention to wintertime changes such as temperature, precipitation, and incidence of hurricanes.
Eye on the Ocean
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/EyeOcean/
This site describes how the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's TOPEX/Poseidon satellite was used to monitor sea level changes in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the amount of heat stored in the water. Sea level and temperature data were used to successfully predict the 1997-98 El Niño event earlier than ever before.
Howling for Snow
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast14apr_1m.htm
Visitors to this site can view satellite imagery and read articles about the most recent La Niña event, which produced less-than-normal snowfalls in western North America. A discussion of the uncertainties of long-range climate prediction and links to related sites are included.
Brought to you by the staff at the NSDL Middle School
Portal - http://msteacher.org.
Copyright October 2006 - The Ohio State University. This
material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under
Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Copyright October 2006 - The Ohio State University - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.